[Rylonn]

I pole in my university dorm room, so yeah, space is pretty tight. I think I developed some crazy sickle foot from subconsciously trying to not hit the walls/desk during spins. Any one else experience something similar?

[Rylonn]

Doesn’t being “officially” certified make you eligible for instructor insurance?

Ps. I don’t actually know anything about this,I just read it somewhere once.

[Rylonn]

Omg Veena, that costume is rad!

[Rylonn]

oh my goodness! is it that time of year already? It seems like only a few months ago, I was trying to get my splits before christmas!!!

[Rylonn]

And also, I agree with Robyn, look up, not at the ground. Your body goes where your head looks, it’ll help your balance

[Rylonn]

I want so badly to want to buy the lessons, but at my level (intermediate-advanced) there arent enough advanced moves left for me to learn from the lessons to warrant 99 dollars. More advanced moves, like Janeiro, and even move combos and transitions (between intermediate and advanced moves), and I would subscribe in a heartbeat

[Rylonn]

Thanks guys! I checked out Pole Inc, it looks awesome. Would you happen to know if it would be a huge commute from the University of Toronto?

[Rylonn]

One tip I’ve got it to not look at yourself in the mirror, especially when just dancing and freestyling. When you look in the mirror, you focus so much on how you look, but when you dont focus on that, you’ll maybe find the your body rolls are more exaggerated and you sink into your hips more, and you just feel and flow with the music more. I just learned that recently 🙂 and I was much happier with my dance when I was not looking in the mirror than when I was.

Maybe try slow songs, so you can have time to accentuate your curves in body rolls and work it! 😛

[Rylonn]

I agree with all the others.
Personally, when I first learned to invert, we learned a sweep, not a kick, but not a controlled tuck at first either. Same with a shoulder mount for the very first time. As long as you keep your shoulders engaged, you shouldn’t feel the pain. You have to be pulling your shoulders back the entirety of the invert. I know because when I get too tired to engage properly, I feel the same pain as you.
A sweep is different from a kick. A sweep can be slow and controlled. A kick is not. Kicks cause injury.

[Rylonn]

Oh it was my bad, it wasnt my thread, here it is but its not much more helpful
https://www.studioveena.com/forums/view/52f2734f-1cfc-4a93-be98-2ab80a9aa0eb
but basically, you just take the top leg, thread it between your arm and the pole while turning your chest towards the ceiling. and now that you have a leg on either side of the pole, you can cross them in to a remi sit.

and on my thread someone suggested going into an ayesha which was beyond my skill but still really cool
https://www.studioveena.com/forums/view/5346cede-e34c-4668-9e1c-65f70a9aa0eb

[Rylonn]

I posted a thread on this a long time ago, and i remember someone suggesting to take your top leg, wrap it around your bottom ankle into a remi sit. It’s pretty fun 🙂

[Rylonn]

Have you tried going into a forearm stand, straddling the legs, then lowering your legs are close to the ground as you can get them, and then lifting them back up? Try some reps of those, maybe. That’s how we train at my studio

[Rylonn]

My rockclimbing boyfriend slacklines. He’s really good at it. For me, it’s so hard just to get ON the thing, let alone take a couple steps. Definitely takes a lot of practice if balance isnt your forte, but I can see how it’d be fun, and great for practicing balance.
And when you’re out of balance/finding balance, the whole line shakes like crazy 😛 its kinda nerve wracking haha

I say try it!

[Rylonn]

Woah, that transition is pretty rad

[Rylonn]

Yeah, HoneyAlyssa, that sounds really cool, Id love to see that

[Rylonn]

Thanks 🙂 and yeah, I was talking about the one with both legs on the same side

[Rylonn]

For sitting up, it is definitely ab strength, but you get to hang on to the pole with your legs for help. If you can sit up from a CAR or CKR, I think you should be able to sit up from a brass monkey. Sometimes it’s just kind scary with this new kind of grip. You have to really really really squeeze your knee pit, and dont forget to also engage the other leg.

[Rylonn]

I used to not be able to lift at all, and it was because my shoulders/upper back wasnt strong enough, and my shoulder/upperback flexibility was terrible. But mostly because I was too weak. It helped to do lots of planks and pushups as well to strengthen that area, and handstands/forearm stands to practice pushing up through the shoulders. Even while doing something like downward dog, really push push push out of the shoulder. It should be really really tiring. It took me a month of that sort of training to be able to push into a bridge form the ground with no assistance

[Rylonn]

Hmm, I cant compare to Mika or BK because Ive never owned any, but I have a 34 bust and the Elena and Amanda bra tops in size 4 fit me like a glove

[Rylonn]

If you havent already, you can take a look at these ones from light activewear http://www.lightactivewear.com/shorts/

Theyre not as cheeky and the bad kitty ones, but they’ve got good thigh exposure. The owners/designers of the brand are pole dancers themselves, so they know what theyre doing 😛

[Rylonn]

Oh my bad, I thought a V invert was a tucked invert. Definitely start with tucked invert if you want to progress from the sweeping invert.

Anyway, its also really important to learn how to come down in a controlled manner. Coming down uncontrolled(or more specifically, un-engaged) can be dangerous too, I pulled an intercostal doing so 😛

The trick is to reeeaaallllyyy use your muscles to continuously pull your shoulders back and down as far as they can go while descending. It hurts your muscles if you come down and youre not engaged through the shoulders as well as abs (what I did). I admit, this can be really hard. Again, I would suggest working on your pulling strength since thats what will help you pull your shoulders back and down when lowering (and going up!).

[Rylonn]

Actually I think it smells like orange scented windex, its actually kinda offensive if you put your hands too close to your face, or you accidentally apply too much haha

[Rylonn]

Inverts are really hard on your arms, in a pulling down motion. You need to pull down really really hard so you can lift your feet off the ground with control, and also to hold the open v at the top. I would work on things like pole ups, and pole climbs/scissor climb to strengthen the pulling down motion,. You can also try practicing lowering down out of an invert with control until you have the strength to lift into one. Also, I think its important to try a few times during your practice to lift into an invert — even if you go nowhere and your feet stay on the ground, you are still using the right muscles and thus strengthening them, and one day, your feet will lift 🙂

[Rylonn]

I agree, I think Prince is worth a try, but in my preference, I Iike the lighter texture of dry hands better for sweaty hands

[Rylonn]

yeah, extending on the warm thing, you should be very lightly sweaty, and it usually doesnt help if the pole is cold either, so you can try warming it up with spins, or maybe a heater in the room